May 11, 2004

The Press Association acquires EMPICS

May 11, 2004. The Press Association (PA), the national news agency of the UK and Ireland, announces the acquisition of EMPICS, the sports photography and photo marketing specialist.

The purchase of EMPICS, and the merger of its vast sports photo library with that of The Press Association, will greatly boost the position of PA in the picture syndication market, and improve its range of services to customers.

EMPICS, founded by Phil O'Brien in 1985, has established a leading reputation in the sports photography market, using innovative technology to deliver images to customers. The Press Association's photo library has images dating back to the 1890s, and offers customers images from Britain's most comprehensive news archive over the three centuries.

Combined, the two organisations have an archive of nearly 9 million news, celebrity and sport images, of which more than 1.5 million are available to customers online.

Both companies will continue to operate their own picture desk operations.

Among EMPICS photo marketing initiatives is its ground-breaking New Media Stills Production (NMSP) service. This delivers, via wireless technology, still images taken at events to customers within 20 seconds. This revolutionary new service presents significant opportunities for The Press Association, packaging live images with real-time text and data.

Paul Potts, Chief Executive & Editor-in Chief of The Press Association, said: "EMPICS excels in photo marketing, and has successfully embraced new technology to deliver exciting new products to customers. In addition, EMPICS executives have a proven track record in the management and exploitation of intellectual property rights, maximising the potential value for licensors and serving the needs of picture licensees."

EMPICS Chief Executive Phil O'Brien said: "For picture buyers, this deal offers a great opportunity to get the very best UK editorial photography combined with the well known standards of EMPICS service. In our companies' developing markets of new media, sports and celebrity, it delivers a compelling multimedia proposition combining the NMSP real-time photography product with PA's established live data services."

About the Press AssociationThe Press Association is a customer-focused group of news, information and communications businesses and the UK's leading provider of real time news and sports information. As the national news agency for the UK and Ireland, The Press Association is at the heart of the media industry, supplying services to every national and regional daily newspaper, broadcasters, online publishers and a wide range of commercial organisations.

The Press Association is a private company with 27 shareholders, most of whom are national and regional newspaper publishers. The biggest shareholders are Associated Newspaper Holdings Limited, News International plc, Trinity Mirror plc and United Business Media plc. Founded in 1868, The Press Association has an unrivalled reputation for providing fast, accurate and impartial information.

About EMPICSEMPICS is a sports photography company, providing complete photographic solutions for sports rights holders, media and brands in the UK and abroad. Established in 1985, EMPICS has always led the market place, using innovative technology and strategic solutions to provide services to business customers and sports fans.

As part of its services, EMPICS offers an online digitised sports photo library of over 650,000 images dating back to the 1860s, up to and including today's events. Another 1.4m images are held offline in physical storage. EMPICS comprehensive collection includes images of soccer (international, European, major league and grass roots soccer), cricket, rugby, tennis, motor sport, golf, horse racing and many other sports. It also represents the work of some of the world's finest sports specialists. Covering everything from international events to grass roots games, key sporting moments, personalities, athletes, fans, venues and ambience.